Bible Strands
Ecclesiastes 6:11
For the more words, the more futility—and how does that profit anyone?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Teacher addresses readers in Ecclesiastes while reflecting on human limitation after stating that man cannot contend with a stronger power (Ecclesiastes 6:10) and before questioning who knows what will come after him (Ecclesiastes 6:12).
The words — מַרְבִּים (mar.bim) = they increase, and הָבֶל (ha.vel) = futility. The text states that multiplying speech directly multiplies futility, rather than resolving human uncertainty.
The thread — This theme appears in Ecclesiastes 5:7, where many words are equated with dreams that bring futility, and in Ecclesiastes 4:16, which notes the endless succession of people who leave no lasting mark.
Why it lands — The verse demands the reader abandon the assumption that more explanation or speech yields greater profit, and instead accept the limits of human understanding.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Seeing there be many things that increase vanity, what is man the better?
Cross-references
- Ecclesiastes 4:16 There is no limit to all the people who were before them. Yet the successor will not be celebrated by those who come even later. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- Ecclesiastes 5:7 For as many dreams bring futility, so do many words. Therefore, fear God.
- Psalms 73:6 Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them.
- Ecclesiastes 1:6 The wind blows southward, then turns northward; round and round it swirls, ever returning on its course.
- Ecclesiastes 1:17 So I set my mind to know wisdom and madness and folly; I learned that this, too, is a pursuit of the wind.
- Ecclesiastes 2:3 I sought to cheer my body with wine and to embrace folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
- Ecclesiastes 3:19 For the fates of both men and beasts are the same: As one dies, so dies the other—they all have the same breath. Man has no advantage over the animals, since everything is futile.
- Ecclesiastes 4:1 Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no comforter.
- Ecclesiastes 4:8 There is a man all alone, without even a son or brother. And though there is no end to his labor, his eyes are still not content with his wealth: “For whom do I toil and bereave my soul of enjoyment?” This too is futile—a miserable task.
- Hosea 12:1 Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.